Apollo Olive Oil & Darrell Corti

The week began in Sacramento having lunch with old friends Steven Dambeck and Pablo Voitzuk of Apollo olive oil.  They make three extraordinary oils.  Their Mistral has garnered a long list of awards and has been featured in Food and Wine and Men's Health magazines.  A few years ago, they installed an innovative milling system from Italy that maximizes the freshness, flavor and healthy qualities of the oil by minimizing air and water.  The result is an oil with a polyphenol count many times other oils.  Polyphenols are the healthy compounds, antioxidants, that make olive oil one of the healthiest foods on the planet.  If you are looking for enormous health benefits with plentiful flavor this is your oil (and who isn't). Their 2008/2009 oils were released this week and can be purchased at www.apollooliveoil.com

A visit to Sacramento would not be complete without visiting the food, wine, olive oil and spirits legend, Darrell Cort of Corti Brothers.  Once again, Darrell introduced me to something new and fabulous, the Italian red grape varietal, Uva Rara. It makes a marvelous medium bodied, food friendly wine with balanced acidity and tannin.  Good luck trying to find it other than at Corti Brothers.  Call them at 916.736.3800 and they will happily ship to you.  You will want to be on their mailing list to receive their always informative and interesting newsletter.  There's no web site.